The figure skater and her professional partner, who scored 30 points for their fusion of the Argentine tango/Cha cha, giving them a perfect 90 when combined with their scores from Monday's show.

Veteran dancer Maksim - who was competing for the 14th series - was delighted with his win and explained, "It's just plastic, but it means so much. And when it's lasted a decade of running after, it means so much more, and to do it with Meryl is a dream come true. There's a reason why it didn't happen before. This was meant to happen with this one."

"Thank you all for the incredible support.... I'm completely overwhelmed. @MaksimC and I have been so fortunate to share this journey w/ you! [sic]," Maryl wrote on Twitter.

The 32-year-old wrestler is a fan of the program and if the opportunity arose to compete on the ballroom show he'd jump at the chance. Fandango - who uses ballroom dance moves in the ring and is always accompanied by his "dancing partner" Summer Rae - first got into the series when fellow WWE Superstar Chris Jericho competed on it in 2011. When asked if he'd like to compete on the series, Fandango told BANG Showbiz, "I would like to give it a go, I just need the right partner - maybe a lingerie model! I've watched Dancing with the Stars, I watched when Chris Jericho was on it, I think it's cool. It's always cool to see the stars - whether they're a football player or an actor, an actress, a model, whatever - put into that situation of crunch training to try and win the show. How they deal with the pressures and their egos of not being really good at it is interesting to see."

NeNe Leakes will compete on Dancing With The Stars. The outspoken Real Housewives of Atlanta star is set to join the likes of Price Is Right host Drew Carey, former ice hockey player Sean Avery and Full House alumni Candace Cameron Bure on the 18th season of the popular ballroom dancing show.

The full line-up was officially unveiled on Good Morning America yesterday morning and features a heavy dose of athletes. Double-amputee snowboarding champion Amy Purdy, who will be partnered with professional dancer Derek Hough, long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, and Olympic figure skaters Charlie White and Meryl Davis have all signed on to compete.

Dancing with the Stars co-host Brooke Burke-Charvet announced late last night that she won't be returning as a co-host for the dancing competition's 18th season.

Despite having served as the reality show's co-host for eight seasons, Brooke broke the surprising news on her Twitter: "Weird day ... Shocking pre-season elimination #DWTS …ME. Tom Bergeron didn't even read my name... I won't be returning to the show this season."

A confirmation of the news was given by the show's executive producer Conrad Green, who wrote in a statement, "We can confirm that Brooke Burke-Charvet will not be joining us next season... She's been a wonderful part of the Dancing with the Stars family since her triumphant win in season seven and will unquestionably be missed by our entire team. We'd like to thank Brooke for her years of great service."

The 64-year-old retired athlete, whose stepchildren Kim and Rob Kardashian have both previously competed on the reality series, is in talks to take part in the upcoming 18th season. "He's dying to do it. The show is close to locking him in," a source said.

Meanwhile, the Olympic gold medallist's sons Brandon and Brody Jenner are said to be very supportive of his recent decision to reduce the size of his Adam's apple. Bruce, who separated from his wife Kris Jenner in October after 22 years of marriage, reportedly underwent a "laryngeal shave" procedure in Beverly Hills on Sunday to soften the feature of his neck, which is typically done on patients who are in the first stage of gender reassignment.

"The boys don't think their father is trying to become a woman and simply laugh at rumors. They do believe that Bruce became more conscience of his physical appearance and how he looked after Keeping Up With The Kardashians premiered. They blame their stepmother [Kris] for all of the plastic surgery he has had over the years. Kris always encouraged Bruce to have his face nipped and tucked. He has had plastic surgery to remove excess fat above his eyelids. The Adam's apple surgery is just following in that pattern," a source said.

Bosses for the reality show are keen to pull out all of the stops for the next season by choosing celebrity contestants who have all won Oscars, and they believe securing Renee - who took home the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in Cold Mountain in 2003 - will encourage other stars to sign up.

"Renee is being seen as the lynchpin contestant that would seal the deal for the theme season. The producers are fixated on Renee, in part because she hasn't done much dancing at all since Chicago more than 10 years ago and there's this real mystery about her and what she's up to. They keep raising the amount of money they are willing to give her in the hope that she'll say yes, and the theory is that if they can get her to sign on, then it would attract some other really prominent Oscar winning stars - who wouldn't normally do reality TV - to fall in step," a source said.

Ratings for the ABC program have decreased in recent seasons after producers only wanted celebrities with little dancing experience to take part, but they believe a talent like Renee's could boost viewings. "Now that the rule that stars had to be total dance novices has been broken, it opens the door wide for someone like Renee, who hoofed it in Chicago, to strut her stuff. The DWTS masterminds think the idea of having a theme of Oscar winners would be a sure ratings-grabber," the source explained.

The Glee actress and her professional partner Derek Hough have taken home this year's mirrorball trophy after triumphing over High School Musical actor Corbin Bleu and his professional partner Karina Smirnoff with a perfect-scoring samba/quickstep fusion.

"Anything that scares me I want to do. You can do whatever, whatever, whatever you put your mind to," Amber said, speaking after the result was announced.

And despite coming second, Corbin was just delighted to have taken part: "I thank God for this experience. I thank my family."

Earlier in the evening, Jack Osbourne - whose sister Kelly came third on the show in 2009 - and his partner Cheryl Burke were eliminated into third place after the first round of dances. "I'm definitely not a better dancer than my sister, for one. We're both tied. Just going the distance for me was winning enough," he said.

"I'm so not qualified to be judging on a technical basis because I don't know anything about ballroom dancing. I just don't want to be responsible for someone getting a different mark than a professional would give them. So I am a little worried about that part."

- Cher reveals her hesitance in judging dancers on Dancing with the Stars - a gig that she hasn't previously done.

Jack Osbourne, Snooki and Amber Riley are among the celebrities competing on the next season of Dancing with the Stars.

The trio will join nine other famous personalities on Season 17 of the ballroom dancing competition, which is judged by Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli. Jack - who suffers from the nerve disorder multiple sclerosis and is the son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne - has been partnered with Cheryl Burke, Jersey Shore star Snooki, who has a 12-month-old son, Lorenzo, with her fiance Jionni LaValle, will dance with Sasha Farber, while Glee actress Amber will foxtrot with Derek Hough.

Other notable names from the line-up include Showgirls actress Elizabeth Berkley, singer Christina Milian, High School Musical actor Corbin Bleu and King of Queens star Leah Remini.

Season 17 will kick off with a two-hour episode on Monday, September 16 on ABC.

The former Spice Girl has been asked by bosses of the ABC show to come back to the ballroom and compete against other celebrity dancers for the mirror-ball trophy. Mel and her professional partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy came second on the fifth season of the program in 2007.

"Mel absolutely wants to come back and take another crack at winning the coveted mirror-ball trophy. Mel and Maksim had great chemistry together and they definitely push each other's buttons, which only makes their dances more intense and fiery. Maksim has never won the trophy before, it's a constant thorn in his side, and he knows his best chance of winning is going to be with Mel," a source told RadarOnline.com.